A piece of fiction by BJ Novak called "Julie and the Warlord" that with his help, we’ve turned into a radio drama. It’s from his new book of short stories One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories.

Reporter Mary Wiltenburg tells the story of a little boy stymied by the question "Where do you come from?" (8 minutes)You can read more of the family’s stories on Mary’s website.

Alex Blumberg takes us to an American classroom where students are reading a classic, The Education of Little Tree, by Forrest Carter. The book is marketed as a simple homespun autobiography of a Cherokee orphan.

A short story by John Jodzio that reveals the truth about infants. It's read by Sara Mollo-Christensen.

Producer Ben Calhoun tells Ira about a secret move his friend uses all the time — the "good guy discount" — that gets Ben's friend money off all sorts of items when he's shopping.

Carin Gilfry explains how she once accidentally locked herself in a hotel closet, and because today’s show is being broadcast from an opera house stage, Ira is able to take the story to a place he never usually can.

Susan’s investigation continues, and she tells the story of a third person who was close to Ibragim Todashev who was whisked out of the United States after actions by the FBI.

Producer Stephanie Foo speaks to Nasubi, a Japanese comedian who, in the 90s, just wanted a little bit of fame. So he was thrilled when he won an opportunity to have his own segment on a Japanese reality TV show.

When Jonathan Goldstein was 11, his father gave him a book called Ultra-Psychonics: How to Work Miracles with the Limitless Power of Psycho-Atomic Energy. The book was like a grab bag of every occult, para-psychology, and self-help book popular at the time.

Al Drucker used to work for the IRS doing tax enforcement. One thing he found really helpful in the job was when someone from the public would give a tip on who he should look into.

We plays excerpts from Mike Pesca's podcast, The Gist, from Slate. Mike Pesca used to be the sports reporter for NPR, but The Gist isn't about sports.

Longtime This American Life producer Alex Blumberg decided, a while back, to try and start his own business. He also decided to record the whole process, including investor meetings that go off the rails, and other tense and awkward moments that business reporters usually don’t get access to.

Comedian Sasheer Zamata stages a radio play, complete with sound effects and comedians Nicole Byer, Chris Gethard, and Frank Garcia Hejl. It’s a true story about a recent bus accident.

Yale psychologist Paul Bloom tells Ira about his research into the morality of babies and young children.

John Gravois tells the story of a potentially annoying San Francisco food trend: artisanal toast. John explains how, in fact, the trend's origins are very down to earth, and more heroic than annoying.

We spend a semester in a public school in New York City called Lyons Community School. Lyons is trying to avoid suspensions, detentions and basically all other forms of traditional punishment.

Rachel has two kids. Elias, age seven, is a vegetarian.

When it comes to disciplining young people, teachers are winging it. We ask middle school teachers all over the country to walk us through how they get a kid to take his hat off.

Ira plays audio of a phone call recorded by Ryan Block, who became Internet-famous after he posted audio of himself trying to cancel his Comcast account. Then Ira talks with David Segal, writer of the Haggler column in the New York Times, about getting the backs of consumers who need a champion.

There's one group of people that is universally tarred and feathered in the United States and most of the world. We never hear from them, because they can't identify themselves without putting their livelihoods and reputations at risk.

Ira plays excerpts from a 1966 episode of Studs Terkel's WFMT radio show, with guest Mike Royko talking about a scandal.

Host Ira Glass tell the story of a city pride campaign in Calgary, Canada. He speaks with life-long Calgarian Ken Lima-Cuelho who explains how much people in the city loved the campaign — and the song at the center of it, "Hello Calgary." Except, Ira, and the song's composer, Frank Gari, have some bad news for Ken.

In New York, like in lots of cities, you can call 3-1-1 for help with city services, but there's lots of things that people call in for that operators don't have answers for. And so they improvise.